Backstory

There was a terrible tragedy in our city this year. A nurse made a medication error and a critically ill baby died. It was all over the news. The hospital was under pressure to do something so they fired the nurse. She had 20 years of experience in the Neonatal ICU caring for very, very sick children without incident. She missed a decimal point when she calculated a medication dose. Every nurse knows how easily that can happen. We are human. When we saw the news, we all whispered a prayer, "There but for the grace of God..." The hospital hung her out to dry and she took her own life.

Nurses all over the city recoiled. We were reminded of how vulnerable we are. My boss held a staff meeting after the news of the second death hit the airwaves. She told us that she would never let that happen on our unit. She said she believed we all make every effort to keep our patients safe (from med errors and new residents) and that she would defend us. She was once a nurse on our unit. She knows.